PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team returned to action to begin the its second half to the season tonight defeating New England College 5-0 thanks in large part to a Paul Fregeau hat-trick.
 
Plattsburgh State (10-2-0) jumped on New England College (3-6-2) early when Fregeau scored two goals in the first 6:28 of the game.
 
The freshman skating in his sixth game had yet to record a goal all season before exploding for three tonight.
 
Fellow freshman Ayrton Valente would make it 3-0 when he received a pass from Kyle Hall in the slot before beating Pilgrims goalie Sebastian Anderss.
 
Skating 4-on-4 Hall forced a turnover in the Pilgrims zone against the right side boards before sliding a pass across to Valente gliding into the slot.
 
Plattsburgh State would score a goal in each of the next two periods to cruise to its 5-0 victory.
 
Josh Koerner netted in second goal in just his third game at 13:46 into the second before Fregeau scored his hat-trick goal on the power-play 7:48 into the third period.
 
Brady Rouleau started in net for the Cardinals stopping all 19 shots he faced before having to leave midway through the third before due to an apparent injury. Ryan Hubbard finished out the final 12:26 of the game with two saves.
 
Anderss made 29 saves on 34 shots picking up the loss for New England College who will now play Utica in the consolation game at 4 p.m. tomorrow.
 
Plattsburgh State will now face Amherst in the WB Mason Cardinal Winter Classic Championship game, Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
UTICA vs. AMHERST
The first game of the WB Mason Winter Classic featured a dandy that saw the Lord Jeffs defeat the Pioneers in dramatic come from behind fashion.
 
Utica had a 3-1 lead over Amherst with less than 90 seconds remaining in regulation. Amherst would score not one but two goals with a pulled goalie to force overtime.

Overtime played scoreless so record wise the teams finished with a tie but for tournament purposes a shootout commenced.
 
The shootout went four empty rounds before David White found the back of the net for the Lord Jeffs sending them to the championship game.